rated by 0 users

This post has
878
Replies |
28
Followers

Didn't know where to post this, it's no joke or inspiration but wanted my "family" to be aware.

THYROID CANCER

On Wednesday, Dr. Oz had a show on the fastest growing cancer in women, thyroid cancer.

It was a very interesting program and he mentioned that the increase could possibly be related to the use of dental x-rays and mammograms. He demonstrated that on the apron the dentist puts on you for your dental x-rays there is a little flap that can be lifted up and wrapped around your neck. Many dentists don't bother to use it. Also, there is something called a "thyroid guard" for use during mammogram's.

By coincidence, I had my yearly mammogram yesterday. I felt a little silly, but I asked about the guard and sure enough, the technician had one in a drawer.

I asked why it wasn't routinely used.

Answer:

"I don't know. You have to ask for it."

Well, if I hadn't seen the show, how would I have known to ask?

We need to pass this on to our daughters, nieces, mothers and all our female friends and husbands tell your wives!!

I just did, now you send it on to your list.

Someone was nice enough to forward this to me. I hope you pass this on to your friends and family.

Shows like this really bother me. This info should be given out responsibly by a radiologist or, even better, a physicist who understands radiation dose and its effects.

I'm all for shielding and I use it as often as I can (if the exam allows). I think patients should discuss dosage concerns with the technologist and ordering physicians. Being your own advocate is certainly encouraged. I'm confident that if the patient in this example were younger (especially female of childbearing age) a shield would have been used.

People who are exposed to ionising radiation at a young age have a greater chance for developing cancer later in life because they have a longer timeframe for the cancer to develop if that is the cause. We only know that ionising radiation has potential to cause cancer. There is no threshold dose but the dosage from these exams are very low benefits vs risks are usually taken into consideration before the exam is performed. I know, in my workplace, we try to to avoid x-raying young children. If the exam is necessary we try to take as few pictures as we can.

If a person develops cancer from radiation it probably wouldn't be from recent exposure.

It's a struggle, as a technologist, to find the right balance. We have a responsibility to keep the dose as low as possible.

It seems like there are always consequences to our choices. Everything has risks. Just listen to the medication ads. But we need to make educated decisions on what we know. And so often what we "know" now turns out to be a false hypothesis later.

And I don't like documentaries that raise alarm and use scare tactics to sell the show and fail to give the whole story, or even purposefully omit facts.

(which reminds me, of all those political adds, or comments from the candidates. Oh, I am glad that is over.)

Kris, I'm glad you posted this. A responsible technologists view on a very serious subject. The key word being responsible. I also agree that we all need to be our own advocate, that is the reason I posted that piece to remind everyone to do just that. I've never questioned my dentist or the tech doing my mamo but I will from now on.

1 bite wing x-ray, you recieve 4 of these yearly at your dental office, delivers 0 .4 doses of mrem radiation. you recieve 1 mrem living 2 days in denver or taking one cross country trip in an airplane or one year of watching television.

a mamogram delivers about 70 mrem, your environment, background radiation, delivers about 200 mrem per year. these aren't exact comparisons. the radiation delivered by x-rays is targeted to a specific area and not spread throughout your body. but the bottom line is, diagnostic x-rays for mamos and bite wings, deliver very little radiation. no amount of radiation is insignificant, but way more lives are saved through mamos by detecting early breast cancer, than are harmed by the radiation.

1 bite wing x-ray, you recieve 4 of these yearly at your dental office, delivers 0 .4 doses of mrem radiation. you recieve 1 mrem living 2 days in denver or taking one cross country trip in an airplane or one year of watching television.

a mamogram delivers about 70 mrem, your environment, background radiation, delivers about 200 mrem per year. these aren't exact comparisons. the radiation delivered by x-rays is targeted to a specific area and not spread throughout your body. but the bottom line is, diagnostic x-rays for mamos and bite wings, deliver very little radiation. no amount of radiation is insignificant, but way more lives are saved through mamos by detecting early breast cancer, than are harmed by the radiation.

Thanks Gini, this puts everything into perspective for me. What's up with Dr. Oz???? Maybe that statement was taken out of context????

When I worked in critical care we wore the badges that measures the amount of radiation exposure because we did alot of portable xrays at the bedside. In all the years that I worked and stood at bedsides to keep the patient positioned my exposure badge never had exposure. I think some people just like to scare everyone. I agree that we need to make responsible decisions but we also need to understand that the stuff we see on TV is out there just to sell shows. And the "scary" stuff sells more shows than the actual truth.

my badge never showed any exposure either. mostly i stepped out of the room to snap the pictures, but a few times a month, i had to hold films in a kids mouth, and sometimes on unco-operative adults, while pictures were being taken.

the stuff we see on TV is out there just to sell shows. And the "scary" stuff sells more shows than the actual truth.

Nana, that's true and my personality is such that it sucks me right in. I don't watch Dr. Oz, the article was sent to me by another gullible gal I hang out with. : ) Hope she's not reading this. If she is she'll get me back, can't wait. : )

So...I'm at Wal-Mart buying a bag of Purina dog food for my dogs. Whileat the check-out line, a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. Why elsewould I be buying dog food, RIGHT??? So on impulse I told her that no, Ididn't have a dog, I was starting the Purina Diet again, and that Iprobably shouldn't because I ended up in the hospital last time, butthat I'd lost 50 pounds before I awoke in the intensive care with tubescoming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms. I told her thatit was essentially a Perfect Diet and all you do is load your pocketswith Purina Nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feelhungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I wasgoing to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyonein line was now enthralled with my story.) Horrified, she asked if Iended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told herno, I stepped off a curb to sniff a poodle's behind and a car hit me. Ithought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he waslaughing so hard.

Marie, don't feel bad for sharing this. It makes for good conversation. I usually know when these types of shows come up, my patients ask all kinds of questions and some want to know if they should have the tests or not.